Arrival of Gov. Lane—Description of Port Astoria and vicinity—Narrow
escape from Shipwreck.
_March 8th, 1849._—I am quietly stowd away in a private family in Oregon
city, after having roamd up and down the valley, in pursuit of
information.
All is commotion here. Gov. Lane, from Indiana, arrivd in town the first
of this month, bringing the new government with him in his pocket up the
Willamet river in a skiff, over the Clackamas rapids. As to whether he
got out and helpd to pull the boat over the rapids or not, I have not
been informd. The big men of the place are brushing up their boots and
putting on their best clothes, as the Governor passes the streets,
hoping as he passes along, that his eye may fall upon them placidly. I
do not very well know what such things mean, though I suppose that
politicians do.
_April 7th._—The first public mail arrivd in Oregon city, from the U.
States, by the mail steamer of San Francisco, to-day. This country
begins to be alive to maritime business—the first vessel ever built at
the Willamet falls in Oregon, is now on the stocks. Her owners say her
tunnage will be from 50 to 60 tuns burden.
After having staid in Oregon nearly seven months, I take my departure
from Oregon city, the 10th of April, for San Francisco, by way of the
ocean.
Port Astoria, _26th_.—To-day embarkd on board ship for San Francisco
bay, after having staid nearly two weeks at Astoria, waiting for the
ship to be in readiness to leave. My stay at this place has given me an
opportunity of learning something of this part of the country, the
difficulty of navigating the river at this part of it, and the prices of
some articles of produce, as sold here in these times of great
excitement.
* * * * * * * *
Port Astoria is situated about 15 miles from the mouth of the Columbia
river, on the south side of it. The place has not been improvd since its
first establishment. There are only five or six houses in the place that
have been built by the whites, excepting a storehouse or two built by
the Hudson Bay Company. The country here and around Astoria, is rugged
and unpleasant, heavily coverd with fir and hemlock, some of which is of
giant size.
About 25 miles of the river from its mouth, is indented with bays by
various names, making a width of from 7 to 10 or 12 miles.
At the mouth of the river, on the north, is Cape Disappointment.
Eight miles distant, on the opposite side, is Clatsap point, sometimes
calld Point Adams.
Cape Disappointment, by its projection from the main land, forms a
little cove, calld Baker’s bay. Here ships may lie in perfect safety.
On the south side, higher up, at the entrance of Young into the Lewis
and Clark’s river, is Young’s bay.
At the mouth of the Columbia river, between Cape Disappointment and
Clatsap point, is an extensive sand-bar, which renders an entrance to
the river difficult, except by experiencd navigators of the river.
The first 15 or 20 miles of the entrance of the river, has a channel so
crooked that almost every point of compass is traversd, which makes
navigation by sail ships slow and dangerous. At every new point, ships
are obligd oftentimes to stop several days and sometimes weeks for a
change of wind. The only successful and speedy mode of traversing the
river will ultimately be by steam vessels.
Amongst other things that have fallen within my notice whilst at
Astoria, was the price of a few articles of produce brought to this
place to sell to passengers, whilst waiting for the readiness of the
ship. Potatoes were sold at one dollar per bushel, eggs at $1 per dozen,
butter at $1 per pound. Flour a little more moderate—its price per
barrel was only $10. During my stay at Astoria, a beef was killd at
Clatsap and brought here, and sold at 12 cents for the fore, and 15 for
the hind quarters, per pound.
_27th._—On leaving Astoria, our ship was thrown on the beach, where she
remaind during the day, occasiond by the drunkenness of our pilot.
_Thursday, May 3d_, we left Baker’s bay for the broad ocean, with a fair
wind and high hopes of crossing the sand-bar with pleasantness and
safety. The number of souls on board was about 130. We proceeded gently
along for three-fourths of an hour, when we arrivd near the place where
the ships Shark, Vancouver and Maine were wreckd, and the wind nearly
ceasd to blow. Our ship became unmanageable, drifting by the strong tide
which was then unfavorable, and likely in a few minutes to carry us from
the channel and place us upon the sands, where the ship must inevitably
have become a wreck.
In this critical situation, with only 18 feet of water for a ship
drawing 15, and the tide yet falling—by the energetic movement of our
officers and crew, they were enabld to stay the ship by immediately
casting anchor. After waiting more than 2 hours in this perilous
situation, the wind became of sufficient strength to justify an attempt
to make our escape by parting anchor.
During this time of extreme anxiety, soundings were constantly kept up
both on ship and at a distance around.
When all things were ready on board for the attempt, orders were given
and instantly the anchor with 180 feet of chain were severd from the
ship, and she under way in a retrograde course towards Cape
Disappointment. We continud our retrograde course till we arrivd as near
the cape as practicable, in consequence of a bar which projected a short
distance from it, at which point we changd our course to the south-west,
and in less than one hour we were in the broad ocean, and over all
danger from sand-bars.
_Monday evening, 9 o’clock, May 7th._—Safely anchord in San Francisco
bay. Our passage from the time we were relievd at the Columbia bar, may
be reckond at 96 hours’ sailing. More than 12 of this was under
extremely moderate wind, though in a favorable direction. The remainder
of the way, was under a very strong breeze. It would seem then, that the
distance may be saild, with a strong wind, in about 3½ days, which is
about 560 miles, by the way of the ocean.
To my great astonishment, on looking about on the morning of the 8th, I
counted about 60 vessels of various sizes lying in the bay, most of
which were inactive for want of men to work them, they having left for
the mines. On passing up the St. Waukeen, the course of my first visit
to the mines, I saw scatterd along at different points, many more
vessels of various sizes.
The present head of navigation for sail ships, is a little cloth town
calld Stocton. Here were 8 or 10 more vessels lying disrobd of their
sails to make cloth houses of. This town is more than 100 miles up from
San Francisco. At this place, supplies are deposited for the mines,
which are carrid by wagons and pack animals, to the mining district, a
distance of 70 or 80 miles further, upon the tributaries of the Saint
Waukeen.
GOLD MANIA,
Or Yellow Fever, as some call it.
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